Flexible gripper wrench



Dec. 19, 1961 A. L. BETTYS FLEXIBLE GRIPPER WRENCH Filed June 6, 1960 1 Fig. 3

INVENTOR.

ALBERT L. BETTYS Buckhorn, Cheafham 8r B/ore A T TORNE YS 3,013,455 FLEXIBLE GRKPRER WRENCH Albert L. Bettys, 4207 SE. Hull Ave., Milwaukie, Oreg. Filed June 6, 1960, Ser. No. 33,976 6 Claims. (Cl. 81-69) My present invention comprises a flexible gripper wrench particularly adapted for applying and removing filter assemblies from internal combustion engines. While the present invention may be utilized for gripping any object within its capacity, the wrench is peculiarly suited for the application and removal of modern filter assemblies from automotive engines. Such assemblies usually comprise a cylindrical outer casing or shell of thin metal, and are provided with means for mounting the assembly upon an externally threaded member protruding from the engine block and having passages therethrough for the oil which is to be filtered. It can readily be appreciated that there must be gasket means with such an assembly and, in point of fact, gasket means are provided. In applying the filter assembly the gasket means is compressed firmly against a portion of the engine block, not only to seal the oil into the engine, but also to prevent vibrations from loosening the filter. After a long period of use, the gasket means usually become hardened and self-bonded to the engine block, with the result that removal of an old filter is quite often very difi'icult, particularly when the filter is so mounted that the casing thereof lies closely adjacent a portion of the engine block. Also, even though a flexible element wrench, several types of which are known, may be applied to the filter assembly, the thin metal casing thereof is usually crushed or torn apart upon the application of force to the wrench. If this happens, the only way that the filter may be removed is to destroy it by means of saws, chisels and drills, an operation which is timeconsuming and expensive.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a positively gripping flexible gripper wrench which may be applied to filter casings or the like in very tight quarters.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a flexible gripper wrench which evenly grips the surface of the article, and may be used to apply great turning force thereto without crushing or tearing thin metal articles such as oil filter casings.

A further object of the-present invention is to provide a flexible gripper wrench which may be ratcheted so as to apply turning forces in very close quarters, such as in the engine compartment of an automobile.

The objects and advantages of the present invention may be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, taken in connection with the following specification, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a section taken along line 1-1 of FIG. 2 showing the wrench applied to an article in closely confined quarters;

FIG. 2 is a view taken from the right side of FIG. 1;

and

FIG. 3 is a view taken from the left side of FIG. 1. The form of wrench illustrated comprises a pressure shoe having an inner cylindrical surface adapted to engage the outer cylindrical surface of a member such atent ends of links as a filter casing 11. The illustration attached hereto shows a shoe having an inner surface radius of, for ex ample, three and five-eighths inches, which will conform quite closely to the average filter casing at present on the market. It is to be appreciated that the shoe will fit closely enough to make the Wrench applicable to articles of somewhat larger or smaller diameter, including the usual inner end edge head 12 which may have a diameter of seven and three-quarters inches. Even when applied to the thin metal of the shell, the slight crushing of the shell to accommodate it to a difference in radius of the shoe is immaterial for the purposes of such devices. Even.

though the article to be gripped may be considerably larger or smaller in diameter, the wrench will be operative since the shoe need not rest entirely against the surface of the article to be engaged.

A flexible gripping element 15 is attached at one end to an end of said shoe. The gripping element may be of any suitable form, but that illustrated and described is particularly adapted for the purposes of the present invention and comprises a pair of roller chain end sections 16 and 17 and an intermediate flexible metal strap section 18. The roller chain sections each comprise a plurality of flat plate side elements 19- connected together by transverse pins 20, upon each of which there is mounted a roller element 21 comprising a short section of tubing or the like. The roller elements 21 are preferably of outside diameter substantially equal to the depth of the side links, so that gripping pressures are applied through the edges of all the side links and the adjacent surfaces of all the rollers. When gripping a thin-walled cylindrical element such as the filter casing 11, the roller chain tends to form a plurality of indentations or out-of-round surfaces enhancing the gripping effect. The intermediate section 18 comprises a length of metal strap of substantially the median width of the chain portions, or a braided wire cable of fiat or round cross-section, having its ends curled around end pins 20 of the adjacent roller chain portions and suitably retained in such position as by clamps 22. The section 18 may be almost rigid, but is flexible enough that it will adapt itself under pressure to slightly differing diameters of articles. The section 18 is preferably diametrically opposed to the shoe 10 and has an arcuate length of slightly more than the radius of the article to be gripped, so that when it is positioned between the article and a closely adjacent surface, such as indicated at 23, a satisfactory amount of turning movement may be accomplished without having the ends of the roller chain portions interfere.

One end of portion 16 is attached to a lug 24 at one end of the shoe 10 and the opposite end of the portion 17 is attached to a pair of elongated side links 25 which 21 pair of links 29 extending beyond and in alignment with the chain, and a roller 30 mounted on the bolt 27 between the links. The roller 30 preferably has a diameter substantially greater than the roller elements 21, such.

as in the order of three times as large. The opposite extending transversely through the bifurcated inner end of an operating lever 34 and retained thereon by a nut 29 are pivotally engaged with a bolt 33 along the outer or manually engageable portion of the lever. The lower or inner ends of the straps 36 are bent outwardly so as to embrace a cam 40 fixed to and extending outwardly from the shoe 1(), and the straps are pivotally attached to the cam by a bolt 4-2 and nut 43. The cam 40 is provided with a cam surface 41 extending in alignment with the flexible element 15, having a low point adjacent the end of the shoe underlying the end of the chain portion 17 to a high point adjacent the opposite end of the flexible element 15. The construction is such that the lever 34 may swing arcuately in alignment with the flexible element and the cam surface 41, and the roller and roller elements 21 adjacent thereto may roll upon the cam surface 41 as the flexible element is tightened about the article to be gripped.

An advantage of the foregoing construction is that no amount of tightening of the Wrench within its range of capacity, such as occasioned by crushing the shell of a thin-walled filter, can cause the wrench to jam and prevent loosening or ratcheting thereof, for the reason that rolling surfaces are engaged with a cam.

It is to be appreciated that in the principal use of the disclosed wrench, the wrench may be engaged with the filter by slipping the flexible element over the end thereof. However, other uses of the wrench, such as on a continuous length of pipe, are made possible by disengaging the bolt 33 and Wrapping the flexible element about the article, then reapplying the bolt 33, or by having the flexible element otherwise detachably engaged with the lever by any of a number of well known suitable means.

It is also to be appreciated that the flexible element may be formed entirely of chain links, or formed entirely of a strap or braided wire cable, without departing from my invention.

I claim as my invention all such modifications in arrangement and detail as come within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A flexible gripper wrench comprising a pressure shoe adapted to bear against the surface of an object to be gripped by the wrench, a flexible gripping element having one end attached to one end of said shoe and its other end adapted to overlie the opposite end of said shoe, a cam fixed to the outer surface of said shoe and having a cam surface rising from a low point adjacent said opposite end of said shoe to a high point adjacent said one end of said element, said cam surface extending in alignment with said element, an operating lever pivotally attached to and extending outwardly from said shoe for swinging movement in alignment with said cam surface and said element, and linking means pivotally connected at one end to said lever at a point spaced from said cam surface and at its other end to said other end of said element, said flexible element comprising an intermediate metal strap portion and a chain portion adapted to engage said cam surface, and said chain portion comprising a plurality of roller chain links including a plurality of roller members adapted to roll upon said cam surface.

2. A flexible gripper wrench comprising a pressure shoe adapted to bear against the surface of an object to be gripped by the wrench, a flexible gripping element having one end attached to one end of said shoe and its other end adapted to overlie the opposite end of said shoe, a cam fixed to the outer surface of said shoe and having a cam surface rising from a low point adjacent said opposite end of said shoe to a high point adjacent said one end of said element, said cam surface extending in alignment with said element, an operating lever pivotally attached to and extending outwardly from said shoe for swinging movement in alignment with said cam surface and said element, and linking means pivotally connected at one end to said lever at a point spaced from said cam surface and at its other end to said other end of said element, said flexible element comprising an intermediate braided wire cable portion and a chain portion adapted to engage said cam surface, and said chain portion comprising a plurality of roller chain links including a plurality of roller members adapted to roll upon said cam surface.

3. A flexible gripper wrench comprising a pressure shoe adapted to bear against the surface of an object to be gripped by the wrench, a flexible gripping element having one end attached to one end of said shoe and its other end adapted to overlie the opposite end of said shoe, a cam fixed to the outer surface of said shoe and having a cam surface rising from a low point adjacent said opposite end of said shoe to a high point adjacent said one end of said element, said cam surface extending in alignment with said element, an operating lever pivotally attached to and extending outwardly from said shoe for swinging movement in alignment with said cam surface and said element, and linking means pivotally connected at one end to said lever at a point spaced from said cam surface and at its other end to said other end of said element, said linking means comprising a roller adapted to roll upon said cam surface.

4. A flexible gripper wrench comprising a pressure shoe adapted to bear against the surface of an object to be gripped by the wrench, a flexible gripping element having one end attached to one end of said shoe and its other end adapted to overlie the opposite end of said shoe, a cam fixed to the outer surface of said shoe and having a cam surface rising from a low point adjacent said opposite end of said shoe to a high point adjacent said one end of said element, said cam surface extending in alignment with said element, an operating lever pivotally attached to and extending outwardly from said shoe for swinging movement in alignment with said cam surface and said element, and linking means pivotally connected at one end to said lever at a point spaced from said cam surface and at its other end to said other end of said element, said flexible element comprising a plurality of roller chain links including a plurality of roller members adapted to roll upon said cam surface, and said linking means comprising a roller adapted to roll upon said cam surface, said roller having a diameter substantially greater than the diameter of said roller members.

5. A flexible gripper wrench comprising a pressure shoe adapted to bear against the surface of an object to bev gripped by the wrench, a flexible gripping element having one end attached to one end of said shoe and its other end adapted to overlie the opposite end of said shoe, a cam fixed to the outer surface of said shoe and having a cam surface rising from a low point adjacent said opposite end of said shoe to a high point adjacent said one end of said element, said cam surface extending in alignment with said element, an operating lever pivotally attached to and extending outwardly from said shoe for swinging movement in alignment with said cam surface and said element, and linking means pivotally connected at one end to said lever at a point spaced from said cam surface and at its other end to said other end of said element, said flexible element comprising an intermediate metal strap portion and a chain portion adapted to engage said cam surface, said chain portion comprising a plurality of roller chain links including a plurality of roller members adapted to roll upon said cam surface, and said linking means comprising a roller adapted to roll upon said cam surface, said roller having a diameter substantially greater than the diameter.

of said roller members.

6. A flexible gripper wrench comprising a pressure shoe adapted to bear against the surface of an object to be gripped by the wrench, a flexible gripping element having one end attached to one end of said shoe and its other end adapted to overlie the opposite end of said shoe, a cam fixed to the outer surface of said shoe and having a cam surface rising from a low point adjacent said opposite end of said shoe to a high point adjacent said one end of said element, said cam surface extending in alignment with said element, an operating lever pivotally attached to and extending outwardly from said shoe for swinging movement in alignment with said cam surface and said element, and linking means pivotally connected at one end to said lever at a point spaced from said cam surface and at its other end to said other end of said element, said flexible element comprising an intermediate braided wire cable portion and a chain portion adapted to engage said cam surface, said chain portion comprising a plurality of roller chain links including a plurality of roller members adapted to roll upon said cam surface, and said linking means comprising a roller adapted to roll upon said cam surface, said roller having a diameter substantially greater than the diameter of said roller members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

